Tag Archives: Delta Airlines

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My Overly Ambitious (and Probably Wrong) 2026 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

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Good afternoon everyone and let me be the first (or maybe the tenth) to wish you a very happy New Year! Fresh off the heels of reviewing my 2025 travel predictions (including 7 wins and plenty of misses), it’s time to look ahead. From airlines and hotels to credit cards and loyalty programs, here are my overly ambitious (and occasionally wishful) predictions for what 2026 has in store for the miles and points community.

Airline Predictions:

  • Alaska Airlines will change the Global 25K Companion Award into a Global 25K Award Discount (valid for a single passenger).
  • Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, or Delta Airlines will launch a debit card.
  • Southwest Airlines will not award Rapid Rewards Points on Basic Fares.

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Reviewing My 2025 Travel Predictions: 7 Wins & Plenty of Misses

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your holiday season is going well. As we wrap up the year, it’s time to revisit My Overly Ambitious 2025 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions and see how my crystal ball actually performed.  Correct predictions are in green, incorrect predictions are in red, and half correct predictions are in orange.  Without further ado, here are the results of my 2025 predictions:

Airline Predictions (4/7 correct):

  • Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will bring back their “convert travel funds to airline miles” feature.
    • No, this did not happen in 2025.  I would love to see this feature in 2026.
  • Alaska Airlines will let you use the Companion Fare to book Hawaiian Airlines flights.
    • Yes! You can use your Alaska Airlines Companion Fare to book Hawaiian Airlines flights, but only on domestic Hawaiian Airlines flights (link).  I would love to see this Companion Fare eligible for all domestic and international Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines flights in 2026.
  • American Airlines will return as a Citi ThankYou Points transfer partner.
    • Yes! You can now transfer Citi ThankYou Points to American Airlines (link)!
  • British Airways will lower their partner redemption prices for American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
    • No, the redemption prices have not changed for American Airlines or Alaska Airlines.
  • Delta will increase the annual fee on their credit cards and increase the Delta SkyMiles discount to 20%-25%.
    • No, but the rumored super-duper-ultra-premium AMEX Delta credit card could have this benefit (link).
  • JetBlue will allow you to redeem points on a new partner airline (besides Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways).
    • Yes! With the United Airlines and JetBlue “Blue Sky” partnership, you can redeem JetBlue points on United Airlines and vice versa (link).
  • United Airlines will bring back their “family pooling” feature.
    • Yes! You can pool United Airlines miles, but they can only be used for United and United Express flights, not Star Alliance partners (link).

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My 2024 Travel Recap: Elite Statuses, Flights & Hotel Nights

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Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well.  I thought it would be cool to share the hotel and airline elite statuses I earned (and matched to) in 2024 along with the number of flights I flew and the number of nights I stayed in hotels.  Fun fact: I might be the only travel blogger without Hyatt Globalist Elite Status (I actually don’t have any Hyatt status).  Read on to learn more interesting facts about my 2024 travel recap.

2024 Flights & Airline Elite Statuses

  • Alaska Airlines is the only airline status that I earned (and care about).  I took 14 flights and earned 13,658 elite miles.  I also earned 8,000 elite miles from spending $20,000 on my Bank of America Alaska Airlines Credit Card.  I am looking forward to earning Alaska Airlines MVP Elite Status in 2025 with several Companion Fare flights and awards booked with Alaska Airlines miles.
  • SFO is my nearest international airport, but I only flew United Airlines 3x last year.
  • Before the end of 2024, I status matched to Hawaiian Airlines Pualani Gold (allows better seat assignments on Hawaiian Airlines) and Southwest Airlines A List, but I don’t have any Southwest Airlines flights planned in 2025 since all my favorite routes were moved from SFO to OAK.
Loyalty Program Status Status from Credit Card Notes Flights
Alaska Airlines MVP – 13,658 Elite Miles from flying + 8,000 Elite Miles from credit card spend 14
Delta Airlines – – 3 trips: SFO-ATL-DAB, DAB-ATL-SFO, and MIA-JFK 5
United Airlines – – 3 trips: SFO-SNA, SNA-SFO, and SFO-DEN 3
Air France / KLM – – 1 Business Class Award: ARN-AMS-LAX 2
Avelo Airlines – – 2 trips: STS-BOI and BOI-STS 2
Finnair – – 2 trips: DUB-HEL and HEL-ARN 2
Aer Lingus – – 1 Business Class Award: DEN-DUB 1
JetBlue – – 1 trip: SFO-FLL 1
Hawaiian Airlines Pualani Gold – Status matched from Alaska Airlines MVP Elite Status (Dec 2024) 0
Southwest Airlines A List – Status matched from Alaska Airlines MVP Elite Status (Dec 2024) 0
Total Flights:  30

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My Overly Ambitious 2025 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions

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Good morning everyone, happy Sunday!  Not to be deterred by my abysmal 2024 results (How Right (& Wrong) were my 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions?), 2025 is a fresh year and the year all most some a few of my predictions will come true.  Without further ado, here are my predictions for 2025:

My 2025 Airline Predictions:

  • Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will bring back their “convert travel funds to airline miles” feature.
  • Alaska Airlines will let you use the Companion Fare to book Hawaiian Airlines flights.
  • American Airlines will return as a Citi ThankYou Points transfer partner.
  • British Airways will lower their partner redemption prices for American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
  • Delta will increase the annual fee on their credit cards and increase the Delta SkyMiles discount to 20%-25%.
  • JetBlue will allow you to redeem points on a new partner airline (besides Etihad Airways, Hawaiian Airlines and Qatar Airways).
  • Southwest Airlines will do a status match once they start selling seat assignments.
  • United Airlines will bring back their “family pooling” feature.

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How Right (& Wrong) were my 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions?

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Good morning everyone, happy Friday!  I know it is a few days before the end of the year, so technically, all of these predictions could come true, but I am going to call it now.  At the beginning of the year, I wrote My Overly Ambitious 2024 Airline, Hotel & Credit Card Predictions.  The original predictions are in black, correct predictions are in green, and incorrect predictions are in red.  Without further ado, here are the results of my predictions for 2024:

My 2024 Airline Predictions

  • Alaska Airlines or Southwest Airlines will introduce a “family pooling” benefit for miles or travel credit. – Technically, Alaska Airlines doesn’t allow “family pooling”, but it is possible (right now) to move miles into a single account.  If someone in your family has a Barclays Hawaiian Airlines Credit Card, you can transfer Hawaiian Airlines Miles between accounts for free and move those miles to and from your Alaska Airlines account for free.  Read this post for step by step instructions.
  • American Airlines will allow Web Special awards to be changed online (currently, they can only be cancelled). – Nope, you cannot make changes to American Airlines Web Special awards.
  • British Airways will add another airline (besides Finnair) to the Avios family. – Nope, Qatar and Finnair were the most recent additions to the Avios family.
  • Delta will change their 15% SkyMiles discount for Delta credit cards holders. – Nope, the 15% discount for credit card holders hasn’t changed.
  • United will allow you to combine multiple travel bank funds and future flight credits for the same reservation. – Nope, it is not possible to combine travel bank funds and future flight credits for a single United Airlines reservation.

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